Apple rumor fans, here's another one for you. Sources have told the Wall Street Journal that the new rumored iPad mini has gone into mass production, just two weeks ahead of when Apple is expected to hold the launch event in San Francisco. They missed the original mark of announcing the device at the iPhone 5 event, but this actually makes sense.

You see, that event was already jam-packed, so it didn't make sense to try and squeeze in another product launch. Some of the details would get lost as the press would already be overloaded with things to report on. People would stop paying attention after a while, so spreading the launch out makes entirely too much sense.

The new rumor places the launch event on October 17, with press invitations going out of October 10. The device is said to feature a 7.85-inch screen made by LG and AU Optronics. Unfortunately, the new device won't feature the high-resolution Retina display that the iPad and iPhone both feature.